


Red Flowers For You

by kanestar



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Hanahaki Disease, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-18
Updated: 2017-04-13
Packaged: 2018-09-18 10:01:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9379556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kanestar/pseuds/kanestar
Summary: Lance develops feelings for Keith, and unknown to him, Hanahaki disease. He searches for help.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is just something I've been in the mood to wanting to write lately since I've been into Hanahaki recently and such. Sorry for the poor quality and pacing, I might edit out the chapters if possible later to make them more to the point.

Flowers.

Often seen as something beautiful and elegant. They had carried with them over the many years of human existence endless meanings and theories of their being. Often times though, you’d give them to people you cared for. Either when they were not so well in health, or when you hoped to convey your endless feelings of adoration and love for that person. But, Lance had discovered another meaning to them. 

And he wasn’t exactly okay with that.

Lance felt like his throat was on fire and as if something was crawling around in his lungs. It was disturbing as well as painful. For the sake of his own sanity, he kept his eyes closed so he couldn’t see the flower petals that he expelled forcefully from his body.

His blood was pumping loud in his ears as his own labored breathing echoed around the room. His consciousness cloudy with muddled thoughts and extreme pain.

Lance sat on his bed, arms propped up on his knees, his hands grabbing fistfuls of short brown hair as he forced out the red petals in bundles, hitting the ground with a “splat” as they were slick with blood and saliva. 

Lance could feel the thorns on the normally green stems trace along the inside of his throat, roughly opening it up and allowing blood to travel down his throat slowly as he gagged on the red petals; his blood splattering their stems and painting the ground with a vivid red color. His hands shook with the intensity of his coughs. Tears fell from his eyes like some sort of leaky faucet, the taste of metal invading his senses, staining his teeth and his breath with the terrible smell and color of his own blood.

Lance could feel his arms and neck pulse from the heat that formed on the crown of his neck as it traveled down his body. Overheating his body as if he was sick. And god did Lance hate being sick. He liked to regard himself as "best looking" and being sick wasn't exactly his best "look", he would vomit, and sweat. Which was kind of gross, the vomiting, in Lance’s opinion. Except when Keith does it. Then it’s fine. As long as it’s not him.

Unfortunately, at the thought of Keith, his heart did a little backflip and his coughing became more intense. He could feel the flowers inside him twirling and twisting around in his lungs. It was quite unpleasant and caused Lance to gag.  
This went on for another minute or two before his coughing fit managed to all down.

For a second, his coughing came to a lull, and he hurriedly tugged off his jacket, throwing it to the side of his bed. Lance sighed into his hands as he opened his eyes and stared at the mess in front of him; his eyes lingering on the blood. ‘Shit, that’s gonna be hard to clean up later’ Lance thought sluggishly. He ran a tired hand through his short brown hair and then dragged it down over his face slowly as he momentarily reflected on what had happened to him.

For Lance, this had became part of a norm. Running to his room, or leaving wherever someone occupied a space when he needed to rid himself of the flowers. It had become part of his routine. Wake up, think about Keith, cough up some petals, eat, cough up more petals, train, cough up petals, eat, cough up petals, and so on. Today though things had escalated for Lance.  
He had never actually thrown up a whole flower before. And sadly, Lance wasn’t able to enjoy his fleeting moment with Keith.  
Lance absentmindedly rubbed his throat through the pain. “Fuck” he whispered hoarsely. It was hard for him to speak, or swallow, since the thorns cut along the insides of his throat. He could feel the blood leaking through his esophagus like a bloody nose would.

Lance remembers very clearly the first time the petals arrived. It was after Nyma stole his lion from him and left him chained to a tree. It was when Keith was the one to bring it back to him. Keith had somehow managed to bring his day back to him along with the return of his beloved lion.

From his place on the ground, Lance could feel his heart flutter when Keith’s voice talked to him through the helmet as he brought his lion back to him.

It was the first time he truly felt anything for the guy. Or, anyone really. For Lance, it was really all about momentary attraction. He never really knew what a real crush was like since his mind was going to fast for him to keep up with. He never had time to really survey or study the person or actually develop any feelings of fondness over them.

But this time, since Lance was stuck with six other people in space, it was a little different. Lance was able to actually have time to pick apart why he liked Keith. It was… odd for him. He at first didn’t want to believe he was crushing on his because one: Keith is an asshole and two: Keith is a guy.

Nowadays, people wouldn’t have such huge problem for it. Now that the LGBTQ+ community is getting more and more rights and representation, but… Lance was raised to be strictly against that. Being gay, or even bi. You know? His mother and family were catholic. And they believe that to be gay was a sin. It was wrong. And that’s what he’s been taught all his life since childhood, and yet… 

Keith, he came in and he just, grabbed his heart and ran away with it. A part of Lance wondered why, possibly blaming it on his gay friends he’s had growing up. He was already exposed to it, and developed a tolerance for it. But besides that, Lance liked girls. Not guys. So with that in mind Lance never expected to actually develop feelings for Keith. 

And boy did he have it bad.

He spent all night long thinking about him fantasizing about moments together, reveling in the warm feeling that bubbled in his chest, but not quite at the heat in his cheeks. He would think about moments he could have with Keith if he ever returned his feelings. And of course, he would blush like mad, not ever having someone so close in range for this long. Nor really having this sort of relationship with anyone. What ever that was.

Of course, Lance is Lance. And if he sees something he likes, he’s gonna do his best to get it. Even if it means having to swim around in an alien mall to get it. But, at the same time, his insecurities and anxiety held him back, leaving him to just checking him out when he thought no one was looking. He would head over to the control room of the training arena, staking out in there to watch him train. Sometimes he would go on for hours, going through each level until he’s reached his limit.  
Sometimes Lance would think Keith could see him so he would duck down, which was ridiculous because they couldn’t see through the glass no matter how hard they tried. But Lance did it just in case.

Sadly though, Lance knew that Keith would never reciprocate his feelings and upon it’s discovery, would wreck their friendship that he tried so hard to develop, so he kept it to himself.  
Every glance he stole at Keith, every conversation, every joke, every laugh, every smile, only served to fuel his feelings for him further until they reached the max. This was his first real love, and in turn, he loved it as well.

But that silent ache still remained, knowing that Keith could never ever ever feel the same way.

And then, it happened.

A scratchy, almost thorny feeling first arose in his chest. At first he compared it to bugs crawling around in his lungs, which he though was weird, and he began to cough whatever was inside him up. He coughed and coughed until the scratchy feeling was no longer scratchy, and instead, was replaced by a cold, gentle, and soft object that made it’s way (rather forcefully) out of his mouth, and into his hand.

A petal.

The red petal was quite small in his large and calloused hands, but he held it tenderly, not wanting to crush it. Lance of course was perplexed by the petal and was momentarily confused, wondering if there was a plant somewhere in his room or something.

But no, the room was barren aside from his very few possessions like his suit and his jacket, and some Altean clothes Allura gave to him.

He had never seen anything like this. He didn’t even think it was possible for that to happen. Like seriously though, where would it even come form? No part in his body that he knows of can produce flower petals the last time he fucking checked.

At the time he was confused and tired and he sighed, running a hand lazily through his short locks; trying to not think too much of it.

And now he was here, two weeks later and everything had gone to shit.

Today though, was worse. Lance and Keith had a sort of, encounter… That ended up with Lance straddling Keith. 

They were training as usual, but this time they had to do it in pairs. Pidge and Hunk, Allura and Shiro, and Lance and Keith. 

The drill was that they were supposed to defend each other, from each other. 

Lance and Keith worked pretty well, as they had started out as the attackers and went up against Pidge and Shiro, Hunk and Allura hot on their heels.  
But when it came to be their turn, they managed to take out hunk and Pidge but that left Allura and Shiro, who double teamed them.

In the end, Lance got tripped by Allura and landed on Keith, ultimately ending the drill as Allura gave them a long, long lecture. But Lance had never felt so embarrassed before in his life.

After that, he was more reclusive and chose to hide away in his room. Of course, Hunk came by to talk to him, but Lance pretended like he was asleep. Before that though, Lance decided to just hang out with Blue rather than be with anyone else. He just sat inside her interior and talked to her for hours. Sometimes he would cough up flowers, and Blue would purr in concern.

He wasn’t sure if they noticed his prolonged absence or not, but judging by the weird looks everyone was giving him lately, they probably had. (Especially after today)

Lance sputtered once more and finally felt his chest relax, content now that he had gotten a lot out. Sitting up from his place on the floor, not really noticing that he had slowly descended from his place on the bed, he surveyed the mess of flower petals and sometimes whole flowers, that rested on the white tiled ground.

All of them the color of rose red.

And Lance had noticed that yes, the whole flowers were indeed roses— stem and all; the thorns covered in blood.

His throat burned in pain, feeling the blood from the thorns that scrapped along the inside had cut it open, letting his blood flow freely inside and only to be coughed out to the open world, coating the flowers, and the floor, in blood.  
Lance was able to figure out that the reason behind their color was probably because of the color he and everyone else most likely associates Keith the most with.

Red.

Lance brought himself back out of his head and began to gather all the small petals and flowers in his hands that laid on the floor and placed them gingerly in the storage unit in his wall, that was slowly being filled with flower petals. HIs own blood staining his hands

After he was done he let out a heavy breath and closed the door, making sure none of them got out in the process and that the bloody parts on his hand didn’t leave imprints on his walls.  
Lance leaned against the door. Depressed and heartbroken, he felt his hand glide up to his chest, where his heart quietly thumped in the silence that fell over him. His hand rested over his shirt, wanting to grip the white fabric, but withheld from doing so. He didn’t want to stain his good shirt with blood.

In the silence, Lance could feel his thoughts wandering over to Keith. His heart skipped a beat for a moment when the memory of Keith laying beneath him surfaced. His cheeks flushed and his skin sweaty from the workout. Keith’s plump lips were slightly parted, and his chest heaved for air; his eyes never breaking contact with Lance’s. He remembered the look of surprise and shock as the silence seemingly settled over them. Lance’s hands resting on Keith’s chest. They were both out of breath.

For a while, they just stared at each other, before Hunk worriedly called out to them. Keith was the first one to move; sitting up and removing his helmet. Lance remained on his lap, not quite being able to feel his legs. His hands resting behind him to sustain his tired form.  
Keith couldn’t look him in the eye, and Lance could feel his cheeks burning hotly as he looked at anything else but Keith. His eyes flicking rapidly over the training walls and his fellow paladins, who stared at them with a humorous expression on their faces, smirks and knowing smiles resting on their cheeks.

Lance, not quite being able to feel his legs, wondered momentarily if his legs detached. He looked down at them, squeezing his legs to make sure that they were apart of him and functioning. Good news: they were definitely attached. Bad news: they weren’t functioning.  
He couldn't move.

His body wouldn’t respond and his brain was going into overdrive by just being in Keith’s presence. Let’s not forget the fact that the poor boy was on top of him, Keith’s hands seemingly attached to lance’s arms, making sure that he doesn’t fall off of him.

Lance, feeling embarrassed, hunched over on Keith. His eyes slowly and unsurely drifting up to meet the red paladin’s own, his blush intensifying as he did so. Their eyes locked.  
Keith looked at him, eyebrows raised almost teasingly as a blush rested over his pale complexion. “You gonna get off me or what?”

Lance flinched and removed his helmet, Keith’s hands retracting momentarily as Lance scratched the back of his head nervously “Ummm, I can’t move my legs?”  
Keith’s eyes widened in alarm, and his hands automatically flew to Lance’s the exposed parts of Lance’s armor, groping them to check and see if anything was out of place. His hands gliding over the armor, moving his legs with his hands to check if anything was broken.

Lance felt like he was going to die of embarrassment. Blood was roaring in his ears and all he could feel was his heart beating hard under his chest plate as Keith’s worried hands traveled his body.

Meanwhile everyone hung back and watched their exchange with knowing eyes. Unbeknownst to the two very flustered paladins.

Lance’s eyes were huge with surprise and he froze. Keith lightly pushed him off of his lap and sat on his knees.

“Nothing seems to be out of place. Hold on, let me see” Keith looked up at him, concern in his eyes.  
All Lance could do was nod as Keith grabbed his legs and hoisted them onto his lap. “Can I take it off?” Keith asked hesitantly. Lance nodded and watched with careful eyes as Keith slowly  
removed his leg armor; a tentative hand rested on his other thigh.

Lance could feel his skin burning from where Keith touched him. If only it could always be like this… And then, like water falling from the sky, he could feel the petals begin to surface. Lance made an effort to try and swallow them down, taking a hard gulp as he felt the flowers get forced down his digestive track. 

But Keith kept going, cheeks red but never breaking focus as he took off his armor. Eventually, the team sauntered over to the two, curiosity visible on their features.

Shiro Leaned down “What are you doing Keith?” The red paladin jumped, not at all seeing him there before, which was odd since he was always alert. “I, uh, was helping Lance” He said, his serious expression trying to override his blush “something is wrong with them” At that the other paladins circled around the two —mainly Lance— and ended up taking Lance to the infirmary.  
Nothing was wrong with his legs, he just couldn’t move because of the extended period of physical contact he shared with Keith. He quite literally, shut down.

Poor Lance couldn’t find it in himself to get over Keith, the red paladin with stupid fashion sense and a shitty mullet. Not to mention terrible pours. Poor things were in terrible condition and were in some need of attention.

But nonetheless Lance was in love.

With his stupid mullet that Lance secretly loved, his dumb smile that could light up a room, or his dark blue eyes that seemed to see right into him with every glance. Lance momentarily enjoyed the feelings it brought to him before he began to cough again. With a harsh swallow he tried his best to force it down along with his feelings and took a deep breath. It was a close call, Lance especially not wanting to have to deal with the flowers again— his throat already being damaged enough as it is.

Looking up from the blood on the floor, he decided he was going to talk to Coran about this (and get some time in the pods because let’s face it, he needs it). But If anyone knew anything about weird alien problems, he would.

Lance leaned away from the wall and danced around the blood on the floor, careful to not get any on his shoes, and opened the door, placing a locking code on it to prevent anyone seeing the mess in there.

He turned and looked down the large hallway, surveying the emptiness it held, and began walking towards where Coran would most likely be.


	2. Discovery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Coran does some cool research™ with some help :)))

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I never expected this to get SO MUCH LOVE I MEAN MY WRITING IS SHIT. SO THANK YOU?? LIKE HOLY CRAP.

Coran was just adjusting course when Lance stumbled into the room. The doors opening unceremoniously with a quiet hiss, alerting Coran of a new presence in the room. Coran jumped, not at all expecting any visitors at this hour, but turned to greet them nonetheless. 

To say he was shocked was an understatement. 

Lance stood, barely holding onto the door way, blood dripping down from his mouth as he stared at him with dark eyes. Coran shrieked at his state, his normally chirpy tone still present, but now laced with concern doting ever so slightly in his voice. 

“My word! Lance what happened?” He said rushing over to him, helping him off the door. The door closed behind them as Lance mumbled some incoherent words, clearly exhausted and out of breath as he held onto Coran’s blue sleeve, from what; Coran had no idea. 

Coran looked at him, clearly perplexed by the situation, and led him over to his chair, urgency laced in his tone “We must get you to a healing pod immediately!” Lance shook his head, still trying to say something as he blindly reached out to Coran, grasping at air. 

“What? What is it Lance?” Coran asked. Instead of replying, Lance looked down at the floor and began to cough, his hand instantly shooting up to cover it. Coran had his hands on Lance’s shoulders as they shook, his coughing progressively getting worse and violent, blood beginning to seep through his fingers at an alarming rate. 

Coran, looking quite startled, began to call out for help. Lance, panicked and riddled with petals as they fell out of his mouth, slammed his free hand over Coran’s bushy stash, silencing Coran as well as startling him. 

Lance wanted to cry. He hated this, whatever this was, and could feel a rose begin to run up his throat as he coughed and spewed out the bloody petals, feeling them as they made contact with his hand. 

The rose itself traveled roughly up his throat, releasing more blood into his hand as it entered the back of his mouth. Lance gagged at the sensation, his eyes growing wide as they began to burn, tears brimming the rims. _Why me? All I wanted to do was flirt with Keith damn it._

__Coran, in a desperate attempt to stop Lance from choking, threw Lance off the chair, turned him around, and began to preform the Heimlich maneuver. Lance felt burning pain in his lungs as Coran pushed his arms deep into his stomach, forcing the flower out of his body and consequently, blood. The petals that he once gripped in his hand had fell to the ground along with his exhausted form._ _

____

Lance still managed to smile at Coran in his beat up state and requested— no begged, that he not let anyone know until they knew what it was.

____

It took everything within Coran to not tell everyone what had happened, but he listened to Lance’s request before placing him in a healing pod. 

____

Coran sighed at the mess and cleaned up quickly with the aid of the Castle’s cleaning system and then directed his energy to helping Lance figure out whatever that was. 

____

He accessed the main computer, digging through any and all records the castle system possessed, locking the control room from any and all visitors. He notified Princess Allura beforehand, saying he needed to run some tests in peace. She graciously understood and notified the other paladins. 

____

His eyes flicked over the screen, analyzing the Altean alphabet subconsciously, processing information, and then continuing onto the next thing. Eventually, he pulled up something (after searching relentlessly as Lance recovered in the pods) that reminded him of Lance’s condition. An ancient file of earth, describing an rare illness that was bestowed upon the children of ‘Aphro-something. After trying to translate the words, he realized he needed extra help. 

____

He placed his finger on the com button and said “Pidge, I need you at the main computer room please. Make haste!” and unlocked the doors. 

____

Pidge arrived a minute later, not being too far away from the room in the first place, and walked towards Coran from where he stood at the computer. Coran re-locked the doors, Pidge noting that as they slid shut with a click’. Pidge stared up at the man as they approached, slightly confused on why he called them there. They eyed him cautiously as they approached, but nonetheless kept their calm demeanor. “What’s up Coran?” 

____

Coran gestured their to come closer, as if he had a secret that he was dying to share, reminding their of some of the girls at their old school who always gossiped at lunch. Pidge quirked an eyebrow, but nonetheless approached him and watched patiently as he pointed to the screen. 

____

“Pidge, you can read Altean right?” Coran asked them. Pidge nodded “Yes, I can— well, I can’t really read it, but I can translate it using my computer” They said, pushing their glasses further up their nose and let their arms rest back at their sides. 

____

Coran twirled his mustache, eyeing Lance who stayed asleep in the pods in the further back of the room, and nodded. “Good, I need you to translate this for me” he said, pointing at the Altean scripture on the screen. 

____

Pidge leaned forward, inspecting the words carefully, and held up one finger before turning around, walking back to the large double doors, not noticing Lance just yet. 

____

“Pidge? Pidge where are you going?” Coran called out. Pidge turned around, still walking and smiled with a mischievous look “I don’t have my laptop with me, I’d have to go and get it” and turned back around, but stopped dead in their tracks. They turned, as if finally noticing Lance standing asleep in the pods, blood coating his shirt and his hands. They stood there, in shock for a second, before finally registering Lance was hurt. “Lance!” Pidge yelled, rushing over to the pod, hands hesitating before the glass. After analyzing Lance’s resting form, they turned around sharply, narrowing their eyes at Coran. “Coran what’s wrong with Lance?! What did you do!” They yelled.

____

Coran sighed and twirled his mustache in defeat, his hope of them not noticing him diminishing. He sparred Pidge a sad look. “ We need your help Pidge, Lance is hurt for reasons both of us know nothing about. Please just get your computer and come back.” Pidge, eyes still narrowed, slowly backed away from Lance’s pod and nodded. Coran unlocked the doors as Pidge approached, walking backwards into their general direction. 

____

Before Pidge could turn around and leave, Coran called out to Pidge. “Ah Pidge?” they tuned around and faced them. “What” they asked cautiously. “Lance asked that no one else no about this, you being here means I had to disobey his command. Please, don’t say anything to anyone else” Pidge solely nodded and ran out the door. 

____

Coran sighed, leaning over the console and locked the doors again. He looked up, as if to face the heavens and sadly twirled his mustache. "What am I going to do" 

____

\---------------

____

Pidge returned not too long afterwards, hooking up their computer to the main console and ran the words through their processor. It only took a few ticks before everything was translated. 

____

"It's done" Pidge noted and brought the computer over a little so Coran could see. Pidge frowned at the screen. "Hanahaki?" Coran leaned in, trying to read the words, but not quite being able too. "what else does it say Pidge?" He chirped curiously. PIdge shook their head, eyebrows closely knitted together, but read anyways. " After a short while on Earth, a green and vast planet, I had discovered that the locals had a peculiar disease. They named it The 'Hanahaki byuo' describing it as an illness born from one-sided love, where the infected throws up and coughs of flower petals when they suffer from one-sided love. The infection can be removed through surgery, but the feelings disappear along with the petals." Pidge cocked their head to the side, never having heard of this before. "That's odd, I never even knew that existed." Their eyes flicked over to Lance and back to the screen. "Coran, what exactly happened to Lance" 

____

Coran held up a finger before typing some code into the computer. Moments later a small robot arose from the floor, hovering over to Coran and Pidge. Pidge was absolutely enamored by the little thing before regaining their composure and watched as it began to pour out the bloody petals and roses. Pidge's eyes grew to the size of saucers, not expecting this. Their mouths opening and closing in shock, eyes flicking over to Lance, analyzing the blood stains on his shirt, back to the bloody flowers. Coran began to speak.

____

"Lance came in here not too long ago, tired as a little Arusion at bed time, before beginning to cough into his hands. I got him over to his chair but unfortunately I had to knock him out of it in order to make sure he didn't choke on the flowers." He gestured to the blue paladin's seat and then back to the flowers. "These were the flowers--" Coran paused, trying to think of the right words to describe the situation "he 'disposed of'." He finished, cringing slightly at his choice of words. Pidge nodded quietly, still in shock before rushing back over to Lance. "How long has he been in there?" They asked, turning back around to study Lance, noting the blood around his mouth for the first time and the blood that was drying in his hands. 

____

"An hour" Pidge turned back around at that, eyebrows going up. "That long?" Coran nodded before responding, his eyes flicking thoughtfully towards the ceiling, his hands subconsciously reaching up to twirl his mustache. "Well his throat was badly damaged due to the thorns on the stems, and well, I have no idea how long this has been going on." He said, hands going back down to his sides, eyes resting back onto Pidge's small frame. "The damage could be worse than I had originally thought" Pidge's eyebrows raised in both concern and fear at this, eyes downcast. 

____

"You know, it may not look like it, but" Pidge started, eyes raising up to meet Coran. "The paladins are like, another family to me. They've been there for me, unknowingly helping me get through my troubles by offering their silent support" They looked back at Lance "And even if Lance is an idiot" they deadpanned "he is still apart of this team, he's like a brother to me" They gushed out, awkwardly fixing their glasses "An annoying one sure, I mean, he makes fun of my glasses all the time and is always messing with my equipment" they ranted, but continued "But a brother nonetheless" Pidge looked up, eyes full of determination "and I always help my family"

____


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance has a new presence in his mind and subsequently, a new way to cope.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oH MY GOD I AM SO SORRY THIS IS LATE, I'VE BEEN STUCK ON WHAT ELSE TO PUT IN THIS CHAPTER SO IT'S GONNA BE A LITTLE SHORT :( SORRY ITS SO LATE AGAIN JESUS CRHIST. I WAS GONNA ADD MORE BUT I DECIDED TO JSUT POST IT AND CONITNUE THE STORY IN THE NEXT CHAPTER

Lance stayed afloat in his mind. His consciousness drifting over a sea of blue in the dark, the light reflecting off the water and lighting his features with the outline of the blue waves. 

He glided over them, never touching the water but feeling the waves move his laying body gently with the tide, his eyes closed with a silent concentration; hearing the occasional mummer from the outside world. Lance felt his eyebrows knit together, trying to make out the words of the silent hums; but to no avail. 

And so, he continued drifting softly over the waves, stars falling overhead and glimmering softly in the night. 

Feeling a familiar presence in his mind, he turned his head ever so slightly over the water, sleepy eyes facing the horizon line as he lifted his lids over his deep blue irises. 

In front of him sat blue, sitting calmly in the water, the blue waves glowing around her body, accentuating her exterior with the outline of the water as she was seemingly watching him with her yellow eyes as he drifted by her. He felt his muscles relax momentarily over the water as he forced himself up over the waves, bright lights from the water activating under the pressure of his feet as a calm smile settled over his face, familiar with her presence in his consciousness. 

He reached out his arm, a soft and tender hand extended towards his Lion, and blue leaned down, placing her mechanical nose into the palm of his hand. He gently rested his head against her cool exterior, closing his eyes as he reveled in the affection from his closest companion. To Lance, blue was a miracle sent by whoever was really up there. Blue was a godsend, in other words. For she could understand him like no one else could—she could guess what he was thinking, she knew when Lance was going to do something stupid, and, she knew how insecure Lance really was. Knowing all of that she still chose him as her paladin, accepting him flaws and all.

And just like that, they existed in perfect silence, only hearing the waves crash softly over blue’s body as it made contact and parted around her. 

Then, almost instantly, Lance tensed, feeling another presence in his mind. He withdrew his arm immediately, as though he was electrocuted, and flew back from Blue, sliding backwards on the air that held him up over the water, as she relaxed back into a sitting position again, obviously not perturbed by the intruder in the slightest. 

Lance’s cautious eyes flicked from blue and as he turned his head the other way, his once droopy eyes landed on a slightly smaller lion that relaxed slowly into the water, the bright cherry color it usually possessed was dulled by the night in Lance’s mind, but it’s highlighted underbelly glowed with the blue of the waves, and the light from the stars and moon reflected over head of the beast. 

His eyes widened, a feeling of wonder and worry softly crashed through his body like the waves beneath him as he stared at Red. 

He tried to lift his arm out to reach for the beast to connect with him, like he did with Blue, but to his surprise, his arms were stuck to his sides. Immovable. Lance glanced down at his body’s reflection in the water, noting how on his chest, roses that were once invisible to his naked eyes, were now overgrown and wild as they scourged for places to rest on, wrapping around his arms and growing off of his neck— roses blooming gently off of his tan skin. Lance stared at it in the silence that overtook them.   He glanced at blue, his eyebrows going up, forming an expression of momentary panic, his mouth opening— and then closing at the sight of her, his eyes widened no longer with panic, but instead, with concern and fear for her.

Vines wrapped carefully around her exterior, as if someone took the time to delicately wrap her, covering her mechanical arms and crawling up around her body, rose buds waiting silently to bloom in the dark night. The blue lights from the waves highlighted the dark red roses, reflecting the waves form over the flowers delicate petals. 

Neither dared to move, not even Red, who rested a small distance away from the two. Staring, watching, existing—he sat in the ocean that was Lance’s mind, disrupting his thoughts as they floated past him at different frequencies, some currents going faster than others, other’s going in completely different directions as the tide seen fit.

Lance’s head flung to the side as he felt Red begin to move toward him, gently treading the deep waters of Lance’s consciousness as if they were nothing to his giant size, approaching Lance at his own steady pace. 

As he reached Lance, He settled down into the water before him, leaning down gently and nudging his body with the front of his nose. Lance leaned in and closed his eyes, relaxing subtly under the Lions gaze and cool touch. Lance could feel the heavy weight in his chest begin to lift and relief flooded his veins. When the red lion pulled away, Lance opened his eyes and stared at him for a while. And then he looked down. 

His arms that were once held captive by the wild roses and vines were now free, the roses having shrunk down into a small, singular flower growing quietly over his chest. Lance let out an inaudible gasp, slowly bringing up his arm and clutching his chest, grasping the single flower that sprung from his chest, digging it’s roots into his skin. He looked up at Red, stars reflecting off of his deep blue irises as he muttered a quiet “thank you”. 

Lance turned around to look at Blue, only to find that she was no longer there. A look of panic crossed his features as he turned in all different directions, searching for blue. He called out for her, even made the clicking noises that you make to get cats to come to you, but it was no use.

Blue was gone.

——————————————————————————————————————————

 

Pidge and Coran were huddled over the computer screen in the med bay, where they had moved Lance for better care and results seeing as the few in the control room where rarely used and forgotten about. 

They watched Lance’s charts and vitals as they went up and then went down systematically. Coran twirling his mustache and Pidge typing profusely on their computer as the numbers changed. 

If Coran tried hard enough he would be able to see the charts and algorithms that pidge was theorizing about for future references and changes to the healing pods for quicker and more efficient results. Pidge typed one last thing on their computer and sighed, exasperated by the sudden energy burst and inspiration that hit them the moment they saw the charts.

“How long has he been in there now?” They sighed out, pushing up their glasses and faced Coran from their seat on the floor. Coran snapped his fingers, trying to remember the earth terminology for time that he used earlier. “uhhh. Oh!” He snapped, a smile fixing onto his features. “Three…hours” He said, his expression falling as he realized how long Lance has been in there. Pidge looked back at the pod, staring at Lance’s content face, slowly breathing in and then exhaling out.

Their chest tightened thinking about how much Lance must have been suffering. They wondered how long it went on, him keeping that a secret. They didn’t really question why though. They new if he liked someone in the team and they didn’t like him back then that would create a huge Imbalance within the teams delicate framework. 

They would recover, but they would never be the same. 

And Lance was sacrificing himself for that. 

Pidge momentarily felt proud that Lance was capable of understanding something as simple, yet complex as that, but those feelings were immediately smothered when they remembered the cost of that knowledge. 

They turned their head back to their closed laptop and then glanced back up at Coran, who was messing with the controls trying to assess the damage done to Lance’s body (for the hundredth time now). Once the entire page loaded he made an ‘“aha!” sound and ushered Pidge to look at this. 

Pidge placed their Laptop on the floor gingerly and pushed themselves off the floor. They peered their head at the data results and then looked back at Coran for an explanation. 

Coran gave a cheeky smile and twirled his mustache and began explaining. “It says here that Lance is almost done with his time in the pods but” He said holding up a finger. “We can’t get rid of the flowers.” He said, a serious look settling over his face. He continued “Nevertheless—“ 

Coran was cut off by the screen flashing red— alerts, warnings and a full on alarm began blasting throughout the room as they popped up all over the screen as a full body image outlining the interior of Lance’s body popped up. 

The flowers that you could see crawling up his throat and into his lungs began to shrink back—some petals shriveling up and disintegrating entirely, to the main seed at the bottom of his throat. 

Pidge and Coran stared at the screen in complete disbelief for a second before Pidge shrieked “What’s happening!” Which was met with a frantic “I don’t know!” as Coran began typing some random controls and buttons, while Pidge ran over to check on Lance.  

Pidge noted how his eyebrows furrowed together, which was odd considering he shouldn’t be able to move, and how even in his sleep he looked panicked. Pidge whipped their head around to Coran, who was diligently working the controls to try and diagnose what was happening.

“Can we take him out!” They yelled over the ear piercing sirens. Coran, not even turning to face them as he typed furiously at the controls, yelled back “Not yet!” 

At that exact moment, as Pidge was panicking and Coran was typing furiously, a knocking sound rapped sharply against the door of the med bay, carrying the sound of Shiro’s concerned voice over the siren, but not loud enough to carry the exact words with them. 

Pidge and Coran jumped, looked over at each other from there respective stations, panic and fear dusted lightly over their faces, before making a decision. “I’ll go and talk to them! You try and fix this!” Pidge shouted over the siren, leaving Lance’s side as they rushed to to the door, unlocking it with a swift moment of the hand as they punched in the Altean digits. The door opened quickly, and shut just as quickly as Pidge slithered out of the room, turning around to punch in the locking code.

 

Pidge turned around to face a very concerned Shiro and a very tired looking Hunk, who was unsurprisingly still in his pajamas and Shiro still in his normal attire, Pidge momentarily theorized he was most likely training at this hour with Keith, except, Pidge noted, Keith was unexpectedly missing from the group, as they faced them with mixed eyes, a concentration of concern and worry dusted over their masculine features, directing their full attention towards Pidge as they bombarded them with questions. Shiro taking up the majority of the questions asked like that one annoying commentator on a DIY video. 

Pidge held out their hands, trying to get them to stop asking questions so they can fill their heads with fruitless lies and pointless stories to cover up the truth of what was really going on behind those doors. But before they answered anything, they pointed a questionable finger towards the group as they wondered silently why Keith was not present.

“He’s asleep” Shiro said noticing Pidge’s confusion, quelling Pidge’s curiosity and subsequent worry. Pidge nodded, fully aware of how little sleep Keith actually gets. 

Thanks to an entire night of Keith asking questions and theorizing with Pidge about different aliens and their customs, Pidge learned that Keith can go for a long time without getting tired, almost as if he spent ten thousand years asleep as well. 

Pidge looked up at their pair of visitors as they waited and pushed up their glasses, sweating nervously and wiping their clammy hands against their shorts. 

“I’m sure you’re all wondering what is going on, but I can assure you not to worry” They paused, pulling at the cuffs of their sleeves. “Coran is running some tests in the med bay and he needed me—” they paused, pointing to themselves in a dramatic gesture“ to help, since you, know” They said, rocking back and forth on the heels of their feet “I am the technician here ” They finished, giving Shiro a cheeky smile, which Shiro narrowed his eyes at. 

“I thought he was running some tests in the control room” Shiro said, locking eyes with Pidge. 

Pidge looked alarmed for a split second (which thankfully no one noticed), before regaining their composure, laughing weakly.

“Well, we finished the tests in there and moved to the med bay for some check ups and upgrades, I thought Allura told you guys?” They rambled. Shiro looked at Hunk, who was barely hanging on to the conversation, shrugged, oblivious at the fact that they just played into Pidge’s lie. Pidge silently thanked Hunk’s unquestioning nature.

Pidge clapped once and faced the group, as the alarms were still blaring, pretty loudly, from the med room. “Welp, I should get in there and uh, help him with that” They said, turning around, giving no time for anyone to argue. The punched the keys in for access to the room, but before they could hit enter, Shiro’s hand stopped them. “Pidge wait”

Pidge flinched, turning around slowly in fear he would try to get in to see what the heck was going on. But no, Shiro gave them a simple smile.

“I just wanted to say thank you Pidge.” He said, releasing his grip on their shoulder. “Without you, I’m pretty sure we’d all be lost right now” He said, gesturing to himself and Hunk, who nodded in agreement at this. 

Pidge smiled back, full of confidence, despite the emergency that lye in wait behind a single closed door. “Of course” They responded, and turned around to punch in the unlocking code for the door. “Oh and Pidge?” asked a sleepy voice. Pidge turned back around to see Hunk was indeed the one who just asked something. 

“Yeah?” they inquired, an eyebrow perked just above the rim of their glasses. Hunk grabbed the ends of his sleeve as he casted a worried stare at Pidge. “Have you seen Lance? I can’t find him anywhere” Pidge flinched for a moment before shrugging. 

“I’m not sure Hunk.” They responded. “I’m sure he’s fine, I mean, come on, He’s Lance.” Pidge emphasized. Hunk and Shiro both nodded at this, before waving Pidge off and continued to walk away. Hunk back to bed they pressured, and Shiro back to, well, whatever it is that Shiro does. Pidge opened up the door and stepped inside, letting it lock behind them.

In all of the hullabaloo and lies, Coran had managed to turn off the sirens. He was sweaty and looked dead-tired from general stress and trying to get everything back into control, but he still did it. Pidge leaned back against the door, sighing in relief. They looked at each other once before slowly collapsing onto the ground in relief. Pidge chuckled tiredly, head facing the ceiling, feeling emotionally drained. 

“Geez that was close” They said, propping up their knee to rest their arm on. Coran nodded, feeling momentary exhaustion as he sighed out an audible breath of relief, sweat from anxiety and adrenaline drenching his face as if he had just been splashed with water. Which, Pidge thought was pretty gross. 

But the sight of him like this was strange. Pidge looked at Coran through tired eyes, comparing how his normal energetic self contrasted greatly to the Coran they were seeing now. He was like a different person— more calm and collected, he looked like a real human being, and Pidge’s interest was piqued slightly. 

Was he like this Ten thousand years ago? 

Who else has seen him like this? 

Why is he showing this side now? 

Those questions ran through their head, as they struggled to get the rest of their thoughts together. Pidge, deciding to get up before they fell asleep on the floor, considering they haven’t been getting that much sleep either, dragged themselves off the hard linoleum ground and trudged over to Coran, holding out their arm to help him up, which Coran gratefully took. 

Pidge grabbed with both hands at Coran’s arm and pulled him up with all of their strength — which wasn’t very much — and managed to lift him off the ground, which wasn’t that surprising considering that Coran pulled most of his weight off the ground himself. 

Coran thanked them before regaining his composure, his sparky attitude taking a moment to recharge before clapping once, and pulled up a body monitor for the pods back up on the screen. 

“Alright, now that we’ve gotten that settled, let’s revisit what I was going to say shall we?” Coran prompted, turning his back on Pidge before they can even reply and tapped on a single pod monitor on the screen. Pidge was tempted to give him a look, but withheld for Lance’s sake. 

They leaned forward and placed their hands against the stand as Coran started going over what they could do for lance.


	4. Chapter 4

Keith was shaking when he woke up. 

He was frantic — panicking in the black abyss that greeted his eyes when he emerged from his slumber. 

His body shot up from the bed like a rocket, throwing the covers successfully off of his malfunctioning body as his hands flew out to support himself on the bed. His breathing came out in heavy pants as his heart beat rapidly in his chest and his eyes searched the darkness frantically, for what— he did not know. Keith reached a shaky hand up to his head, and griped his hair as he tried to force himself to calm down. 

“It’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay” He breathed out, repeating to himself as he attempted to calm himself down. He tried to control his rapid breathing; Taking a deep breath for eight seconds, and breathing out for four. He did this for a few minutes before his heart beat began to slow, and his anxiety mellowed out. Just like Shiro told him to do when he got like this. A flash from his childhood flew behind his eyes as he remembered Shiro telling him to calm down. Then, it was gone. 

Keith sat motionless for a moment, his hand still resting in his hair with a vice-like grip, letting his emotions fall and become still in it’s place in his chest. Trying to process what happened. 

Red.

Red is gone. 

And — Blue is here. 

Blue is here.

Keith closed his eyes, and concentrated for a moment, honing in on that familiar presence that laid in his mind as he tried to figure out why she was here. ‘Blue’ he thought, reaching out to her with the hands of his mind. But he couldn’t connect. Her presence remained behind a barrier that was unreachable to him.

Irritation ticked at him as his face morphed into that of frustration. Suddenly reminded that this was not the first time that this happened; Blue being there in his mind, reaching out to him, but sat behind that dumb barrier. Just like it had the first time he had seen her. When Lance was the one who she saw fit to let in. 

He sighed, dragging his hand over his face slowly, as he was reminded of the blue paladin. Another Irritated flare of emotions. For a second, he could feel Red’s presence; something he had become so accustomed to over the past few months. It was faint, but he could feel him there. Keith breathed out a sigh of relief. 

He hadn’t lost him after all. Keith leaned his head back against the wall. He breathed out a “Thank god” as he let his arm water under his pillow and grab his knife. And, although he couldn’t really see it, he could imagine it in his mind as his hand wandered over every rough edge, or over the smooth, cold metal of the blade.   
Keith sat for a moment, and debated either getting up to go and talk to red, or going to find Shiro and ask him for help. Most of the time, Red was stubborn and refused to give him answers sometimes, even if he was his paladin. Shiro was more straight to the point, and was someone who Keith could depend on if he needed help…. Shiro it is.

Keith stood up from his bed, tucking his knife in his belt and lazily threw the cover back on. And left.

Trying to ignore his panic, he quietly treaded the hallways, rounding the corner to where Shiro would most likely be. When he heard voices.

Normally Keith wasn’t a nosey person. Normally, he respected people’s privacy. Normally, he couldn’t care less.

But right now, Keith was far from “normal”. 

Quietly, Keith slouched against the wall and moved over, closer to the closed door where the voices where coming from. 

“…. Coran, I don’t know if this is a good Idea, he is far from Altean you know. This could badly affect his body if we’re not careful.”

Keith’s brow furrowed. Pidge?

“Worry not my little paladin! This method has worked for any species in the entire galaxy, he will be up and moving about in a jiffy once he tastes this!” 

Keith for a moment, a little disoriented still from his dream, looked up and saw that it was indeed the kitchen that he was hearing Coran and Pidge talk. 

Keith was curious and albeit confused, who were they talking about? 

“Coran, humans are different from aliens. We haven’t had any outside connection with any other planets” Pidge stated, exasperated. 

“We aren’t used to these strange ingredients yet ourselves! How do you know this won’t make him even worse?” Coran was silent for a minute, letting the steady sound of mixing lull as Keith listened. He was really curious now. Who were they talking about? 

Hunk as far as he knows is fine, and would make his own shit to make himself feel better. Shiro as far as he knows rarely gets sick, so it’s most likely not him. And as far as Keith can tell, he’s relatively okay. Meaning…. 

Before Keith can even realize what he’s doing, he opens the door (rather forcefully) to the kitchen and steps in. Both Pidge and Coran jump at the unexpected intrusion, Coran dropping his stir stick—thing in the sudden movement. 

They stood in silence for a moment, all three staring at each other in the seemingly tense atmosphere, before Coran (of course) broke the silence between them with a rather quaint chuckle followed by a boisterous laugh, courtesy of Pidge. Keith felt confusion settle over him as he watched them, and it apparently had shown on his face too as he watched the two. Which caused them to laugh even harder. “what the fuck?” Keith asked as he watched the two begin to settle down. It was Pidge who spoke up first, wiping the tears off from their eyes and breathing in and out with the same rhythm one would have during a quick laugh. “Oh man, Holy crap. I don’t even know why that was so funny but—“ Pidge broke into another fit of giggles and Coran managed another chuckle before bending down to scoop up the stick he was staring with. 

“I think you startled us so hard our first reaction was to laugh our fear away” Pidge wiped another tear as they finally calmed down. Keith gave them a suspicious look as he slowly walked around the island to the fridge, not even knowing what he was gonna even get. 

“So what were you guys even doing?” Keith asked as he squatted, opening up the fridge’s lower compartment for some equivalent of ice cream or something. Out of the corner of his eye, he thought he saw Pidge and Coran look at each other. 

“Well you see—“

“If you must know—“

Keith stopped what he was doing for a moment to watch the two as they cut each other off. Pidge lifted their arms in a gesture for Coran to continue talking. 

“As I was saying, if you must know, Lance has come down with the Whimblamius or as you Earthlings might call it, “space flu”. Coran said, his hand reaching up to stroke his mustache, twirling the weird stir stick that Keith just decided to call “the hook”, cause it looked like a hook. 

Keith felt a small surge of panic rise at the thought of Lance getting sick, especially with space flu. As nonchalantly as he could, Keith nodded and went back to numbly sorting through the weird junk at the bottom of the fridge. 

“Is he…. Is he, uh, gonna be okay?” Keith asked, flinching a bit as his voice caught while he spoke. He cleared his throat and tried not to make eye contact with them as he felt his cheeks flame in embarrassment. He expected pidge to raise an eyebrow at this. He expected Coran to reassure him immediately after his question.

What he didn’t expect was the moment of silence that stretched across the room. Keith’s heart rate picked up as he turned to look at them. 

“Guys?… He is gonna be okay, right?” Keith stood slowly as he spoke. Keith was about to panic when Pidge didn’t meet his eye. 

“Well, Keith, he should be okay, but we don’t know how long this is gonna take” Coran supplied. Keith’s eyes flicked to him and narrowed them slightly.   
“Humans are different from Alteans after all, Alteans tend to get over it pretty quickly, just like we would on earth… But Lance isn’t Altean and this isn’t just a normal flu…” Pidge drifted off, their eyes finally meeting Keith’s. 

His breath caught in his throat at the possibility that Pidge was subtly implying here. Lance could die.

HIs hands shook as it clenched the fridge door. “What” His voice came out low, unsteady. He cleared his throat.

“What… are you saying?” He finished, slowly closing the door. Pidge looked away for a second, before Coran pipped in.

“Well Keith, what we’re saying here is that Lance could be sick longer than we want him to be. He probably won’t die, but that’s why we’re going to give him this soup” Coran grabbed the bowl of the weird liquid to show him. Keith blinked, and nodded. He felt himself let out a breath of relief before slowly standing up. He began to walk out of the kitchen, still feeling slightly numb before he stopped at the door. He cleared his throat.

“ Hey, uh, can you tell Lance that I said for him to get better soon?” Behind him, he heard someone breathe in for a second before it was met with a chirpy “Of course!” and without looking back, Keith walked out the door, resuming his hunt for Shiro for help.


End file.
